Posted on 01/20/2020 12:05:21 AM PST by nickcarraway
The MTA's subway map can be intimidating.
"It's quite complicated," said Sebastian Gutmann, a tourist. "Because you see so many street names, so many station names, and you have to figure out where you are.
It wasn't much help to Jake Berman when he first moved to New York from San Francisco 12 years ago. So he decided to make his own version.
Jake Berman's subway map. Courtesy Jake Berman
"Frustration is a great source of creativity," Berman said.
But when he began selling his creation, the MTA threatened legal action, and got the website Etsy to temporarily take it down.
Berman refused to back off.
"It’s something that you don't expect to get," he said. "And I'm surprised quite frankly that the MTA is even concerning itself with this.
The MTA called Berman's work derivative of its weekend service map, which is based on the agency's iconic 1972 map design.
Berman says his map was the result of inspiration from a weekend trip that went awry, and not intellectual property theft. He planned to take the B train from Manhattan to Brooklyn, but the map failed to indicate that the line does not operate on Saturdays and Sundays.
"I waited like an idiot on the platform for half an hour, wondering, 'Where is my train?'" he said.
Berman's vision features symbols for stations where trains stop on nights or weekends only, and lines correspond with streets.
"I designed it because I thought there were flaws in the existing subway map," he said.
Former MTA map designer John Tauranac says he can sympathize.
"To take it upon yourself to design a subway map is almost a loony undertaking. But I'm probably one of the leaders of the looney tunes," Tauranac said.
But he's no fan of the MTA's current map. Like Berman, Tauranac makes and sells his own.
"Many aspects of today's MTA map are muddy, to be kind. A mess, to be honest," he said.
He didn't think Berman infringed on the MTA's intellectual property.
"The MTA is gonna try to protect its property. I think, however, to step on somebody's toes in that nature is short-sighted," Tauranac said.
On Friday, the MTA dropped its legal challenge. While the Berman's map and the MTA's both show the system's lines, Berman's does not use the MTA's distinctive route symbols.
Berman says his map will again be sold on Etsy. He's invited the MTA to be a customer.
Ping
glad I don't have to tend with it. Dirt road into my house, through my pasture, that connect to 1 of 2 major roads in the entire county.
Fight the fare increase.Vote for George O Brien
Just ride for free. DeBlasio is no longer going after people who don’t pay. Why would ANYONE pay?
Buried the lede but sounds like it is working out.
>>On Friday, the MTA dropped its legal challenge. While the Berman’s map and the MTA’s both show the system’s lines, Berman’s does not use the MTA’s distinctive route symbols.
Berman says his map will again be sold on Etsy. He’s invited the MTA to be a customer.
His map skipped a lot of details, like the homeless camps. Are there still people living in the subway tunnels?
See the documentary Dark Days:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpXHCRYXP7s
I was there last year visiting my brother and got hit up for change 5 times just trying to leave Penn station then hit up another time on 8th avenue by a woman who looking like a pin cushion from all the needle marks in her arms and legs so I assume the homeless are all over the subways as well. It’s just one huge sh*thole now which is not surprising being that they elected and reelected a commie for Mayor.
When I lived in Boston decades ago, wearing headphones with a “walkman” tape player was a way to avoid conversations with strangers on the subway, while waiting, and while walking on the sidewalk.
lol that’s a good idea! Oh yeah and I forgot to mention, when I was on the train to Penn station I found an old wallet in my backpack. I was going to throw it out but instead I thought I would do a little test, I put it on the outside of my backpack in a little net that made it clearly visible. There was nothing in the wallet of course. I put on the backpack, got off the train and by the time i hit the street the wallet was gone. Didn’t see or feel anyone stealing it. Someone walked right up behind me and took it. Maybe it was one of the bums asking me for change, but I didn’t see them reach behind me or get behind me. Someone else took it. It was a nice little test to see how bad crime is there and that said it all. I wonder how many people get ripped off there in a day.
Meaning they can restrict freedom of speech etc. in ways or degrees the gov. cannot on public property .
And he’ll never return.
There was a time the New York City subway was the greatest in the world. Most stations or mileage of lines I think was between London and New York IIRC according to the book of World Records. No longer. Beijing in the last 20 years has gone on a subway building spree and is number 1 in the world in both categories with expansion plans to double the current size in a short amount of time. In many ways the MTA is a stagnant system. Tallest building and biggest subway are now in Asia.
Nonsense! Most of the cars are new. I'm not sure if the cars were even air conditioned back in '73. Now they all are. Many cars have electronic maps displaying information about the upcoming rout of the train. Many stations have electronic signs indication the number of minutes until the next several trains will arrive. One of the lines I take (from Times Sq to 2nd Av and 72nd Street) is completely new as are some lines in Queens I might have taken when I lived on Long Island.
Last week I was in a station I used to use all the time before 1973, but I probably haven't used it at all for the past 40 years. This is the station at 53rd and Lex. It's a deep station and I remember it well with the escalators in tubes that sane people take to get up or down. Nothing about the upper level of the station is the same. It's clean and brightly lit now. The tube escalators are still there but now the insides of the tubes are covered with decorations and ads. The train level is remarkably the same as it was, which sort of surprised me as many of the stations have been retiled, sometimes with artwork, in an attempt to make them more pleasant.
The other thing that's new is that every line, in Manhattan at least, periodically seems to have notices posted that they will not be running at night presumably for track repairs. I don't remember this ever occurring back in '73.
And the penny gum machines are gone now.
ML/NJ
What do you expect to change? This is why subways and rail systems are built typical train car has a 20-25 year life expectancy.. and you don’t refurb functional stations just because.
But if it makes you feel better there will be updated trains arriving staring this year
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.amny.com/transit/new-subway-cars-1-26287915/amp/
Someone who recently spent some time in the Bronx described how similar everything was to when they filmed “Fort Apache” decades ago; a real dump...
You were very lucky.
Instead of a pickpocket you could have attracted a strong-arm robbery, which would almost certainly result in an injury and possibly your death.
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